MEN'S DRESS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 50, Issue 130, 14 March 1930, Page 3

MEN'S DRESS.

CAMPAIGN FOR REFORM. A men's dressing reform party has been established in England for the purpose of educating men to wear fai less and far different clothing. Shorts, the party believes,, would be more conducive to health than trousers or plus fours, since thev would expose a greater part of the body to the sun and air. Sandals, it is held, would be the best possible footwear for men, aiid sandal-formed shoes the next best. Designs for the new garments, says an overseas paper, have already been made by the party in an attempt to confer upon men dress haying the virtues that women have found in their light attire. Men, so far, have been self-conscious and lacking m courage to be "different," it is said. At a recent lecture by Dr. A. O. Jordan, secretary of the party, lantern slides were shown which illustrated the changes in men's dress that his party proposes. Among others was an imaginary portrait of Dsan Inge 111 a shorts suit which was described as "miite attractive and not suggesting loss of dignity." A picture of King Henry VIII. playing tennis in a loose vest and short stockings that left Ins legs uncovered was presented as a royal precedent for the adoption ol more "sensible" clothing. In his lecture Dr. Jordan made the following principal points, which are said to express the chief ideas of his "to cover up the body produces immorality by creating mystery. ■"A man's collar and tie are preposterous, finnicky, and irritating, tight and uncomfortable. . "Man's waistcoat and his oraces are so ugly that a man cannot take his coat off when he is too warm. "Trousers are ill-favoured and unsanitary monstrosities. "There is no placo and no excuse for the hideous and ridiculous 'bags' known as 'plus fours.' "Man's evening dress is the acme of beastliness; it carries the accumulated dirt of years. "Women have saved themselves, but men have hardly begun to struggle against the monster of ugliness and unhealthiness in dress. . "The slogan for man is: J? ewer clothes, lighter clothes,' cleaner clothes, brighter clothes.' " The party's aim in dress reform is to approach as nearly as possible man s original unclothed state 111 nature. Party leaders see clothes as a necessary evil, valuable for warmth and for protection in most industrial pursuits, but otherwise useless.